1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to agricultural implements, and, more particularly, to agricultural field tillage implements.
2. Description of the Related Art
Farmers utilize a wide variety of tillage implements to prepare soil for planting. In one type of tilling operation, rows or gangs of circular disk blades are pulled through the soil at variable depths to break up clods or lumps of soil, as well as old plant material to provide a more amenable soil structure for planting and to level the soil surface. The gangs of disks are arranged on frames that extend generally laterally with respect to the direction of movement through a field and more particularly are angled with respect to the direction of movement. Such tillage operations may include disk harrows, disk rippers, or vertical tillage.
As tillage operations have been developed to be more efficient, the implements are called upon to operate in increasingly extreme conditions. At the same time, the tillage implements are being expanded in size to provide greater efficiency in processing the soil. Tillage implements are often expected to operate in wetter conditions to minimize the effect of weather on the farming operation. Under these conditions, there is a tendency for soil and residue to accumulate on the disk blades. Accumulation of this type of material prevents smooth flow of soil and residue through the equipment, and more particularly between adjacent disk blades and between associated equipment structures, such as frame members. Operators then have to remove the obstructions by raising the implement out of the ground or removing the accumulated soil and residue by hand. All these factors result in making the tillage operation less efficient and cost effective.
In order to prevent soil accumulation within and between rows or gangs of circular disk blades, it is known in the prior art to utilize disk scrapers of various configurations, including in some cases channel shaped disk scrapers. However, each of these prior art configurations shares certain detrimental characteristics. In particular, prior art disk scrapers must be manually oriented to the individual disk blades of the gangs of disk blades, and after significant use tend to turn away from the disk blades, thereby reducing the efficiency of the scraping action, or even interfere with the disk blades resulting in breakage. Also, during heavy or muddy use, the prior art disk scrapers tend to bend backwards or otherwise deform, particularly at their mounting locations, thereby eliminating effective scraping action and resulting in soil-plugged disk gangs and even loss of the disk scraper part from the machine.
What is needed therefore in the art is a tilling implement that minimizes build up of soil and residue on the gangs of disk blades without additional and complicated mechanisms. What is further needed in the art is a more robust disk scraper solution which maintains correct orientation between the disk scraper and the individual disk blades of the gangs of disk blades and eliminates excessive disk scraper failure. The disk scraper solution needs to be simple and cost effective, while providing a rigid disk scraper that can be manufactured efficiently.